Oxygen

Reading Group Guide

1. Why has Miller chosen to combine the stories of the Valentines and László Lázár in one novel? Do you think they work together, despite the fact that the two plots are almost unconnected? How are they connected thematically?

2. Appropriately enough, Oxygen is filled with imagery of air and breath, from Larry inhaling his asthmatic daughter’s breath at the end of the prologue (5) to László’s “three more breaths” before he steps toward his fate in the novel’s last line. How does this imagery relate to the larger themes of the novel: mortality, regret, the disappointment of unfulfilled lives?

3. The two threads of the novel both end with the characters about to perform a final, redemptive action: Alec headed to his mother’s room, seemingly to give her the death pill and end her suffering, László about to take action to save a friend as he had failed to do when he was young. We don’t see how the stories turn out; we don’t know if Alec does give his mother the pill, nor do we find out whether László saves Franklin’s life or loses his own.

Why does Miller choose not to show us the outcome of these two scenes? How do you imagine the stories ending? Does it matter how they end? What is Miller saying about the importance of taking action, regardless of the results? Why has he chosen epigraphs from Hamlet, the great tragedy of indecision, to begin each of the novel’s parts?

4. László’s play, Oxygene, ends in a similar, open-ended way to the novel itself, with the trapped miner using his last strength to hammer at the rock while a woman digs from above. (47) How does the plot of the play reflect the themes of the novel? Can the novel’s characters be compared to the doomed, suffocating miners in the play?

5. Larry fell in love with America at an early age; to him, it “felt like the last place on the planet where things actually happened, a country where a man’s life could still have a mythic weight to it.” (63) In contrast, Alice and Alec dismiss the U.S. as “Hollywood and Vegas and rednecks… razzmatazz and bad food… helplessly vulgar.” (63) Alice views the American impulse toward the mythic thus: “Restless people, the Americans. Everyone wanting to be Péter Pan or Tinkerbell. Foolish to found a country for the pursuit of happiness. People just got into a panic when they hadn’t got it.” (31) How are the differences in the Valentines’ personalities and world views reflected in these differing attitudes toward America?

6. Discuss Alec and Larry’s relationship. Why does Larry seem to be Alice’s favorite, despite the fact that Alec seems to be the more dutiful son?

7. Why does Alec have such trouble expressing emotion? Why is he unable to comfort his mother, or show his fear, as he is driving her home from the hospital? (50) Why doesn’t he believe in God?

8. What do you think of László’s thoughts on the different types of happiness? (111) Which is more important, “the happiness when you know yourself to be happy” or “that which is only apparent afterwards”? Which is more important to László? To Alice? To Larry?

9. László envies the pride the defeated Hungarian revolutionaries feel because “they had played their part; history had not caught them unprepared.” (111) László is denied this “terrorbliss” because of his failure to act to save his friend. On the other hand Alice’s father, “the one who stepped forward when the others were too frightened or wary or confused… didn’t seem to believe in much… Something had been lost.” (29) What is the difference between the two men’s experiences of war and the performance of duty? How is it possible for László to overcome the trauma of his war experience, while Alice’s father never does? Do you agree with László that a moment of courage, the capability to “run back into the burning house without hesitation” is a better kind of success than love? (130)

10. What is the significance of the scene in which László makes the final handoff of the mysterious package in the garden of old communist statues? Why does Miller place it in this setting? How does the completion of his mission help László to reconcile with his past?

11. Much of Oxygen is concerned with memory; the characters struggle to overcome the memories of past mistakes and failures, or to recapture the happiness or optimism of times past. What does each character need from the past, and how does each try to get it (e.g. Alice returning to her childhood home, László undertaking the secret mission, etc.)?

12. What do you think is the root of Ella’s compulsive theft? Is it related to her relationship with her parents? What function does she serve in the novel? Why does she return the poison pill to Alec, and why does she do it using the magic cups?

13. Miller leaves a great deal of his characters’ pasts unexplained; often he hints at past conflicts or events—for example, the details of Alec’s nervous breakdown—without fully explaining them. Why and how do you think Miller chooses to leave these important gaps for the reader to fill in? Does it make the novel more or less powerful?